PC gaming has been in a rough spot in the past few years, with too many games launching with technical and optimization issues that are left unresolved. However, there are times when a game's optimization is judged based on a game's Ultra settings, which creates a situation where developers—such as the Ys X: Proud Nordics PC, PS5, and Switch 2 version developer PH3's Peter "Durante" Thoman—have to "protect players from themselves" and balance optimization with future-proofing their games.
Speaking in a lengthy interview with RPGFan, the legendary developer, who some may remember for fixing the flawed PC port of the original Dark Souls with DSFix, was asked for clarification about the "protecting players from themselves" statement made when talking about the PC port of Trails beyond the Horizon regarding some players cranking up the settings to Ultra and complain about optimization.
"I don’t think it’s 'a lot' of players, but this does happen. And it is very annoying – not (just) because it’s our work, but because it’s genuinely counter-productive," Durante said. "We try very hard to implement a huge amount of settings in order to make our PC versions scale from low-power devices like the Steam Deck all the way to an RGB-riddled gaming rig with a 500 Watt monster GPU."
Not many PC ports offer this level of scalability nowadays, which creates a critical issue, according to the developer of the Ys X: Proud Nordics port.
"That’s the crux: as a developer, we get to decide what e.g. 'Ultra' means. And people judging the 'optimization' of a game based on how it runs at 'Ultra' settings creates perverse incentives for this," Durante said. "Taking this to its logical conclusion, if we were to remove the 'Ultra' settings, rename 'Very High' to 'Ultra', and make no other changes, then this metric would say that our game is now much more 'optimized'."
With this widespread misperception, it's not easy for any developer to offer highly scalable settings that future-proof games. However, there's plenty of value in doing so. "As a PC gaming enthusiast for over 20 years now, going back to older games with new hardware and seeing them in a new light is something I greatly enjoy – and disincentivizing developers from adding high-end options goes directly against that," Durante concluded.
Ultimately, Durante’s stance is a call for a more nuanced understanding of PC and console performance, which seems to have been lost in the past few generations. By refusing to cap a PC port's settings to its console equivalent, or only slightly beyond it, developers would prioritize the platform's greatest asset: its longevity.
I’ve experienced this firsthand when revisiting older titles like The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Seeing it scale to modern resolutions and framerates years later is what makes PC gaming unique. If CD Projekt Red had capped those settings back then to match the hardware of the time, I would have never experienced the game in the new light Durante mentioned.
Hopefully, more developers will offer more future-proof Ultra settings, although with the number of remasters consistently getting announced, I don't personally believe this will happen anytime soon.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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